Second OWS in the Lake

Swim Across America Team Lake Spivey teammate Stephanie and I swam in the lake on Saturday. We had everything we needed to conquer the cold. We had full wetsuits (Stephanie's first swim in her new Orca wetsuit), swim caps (a neoprene Blue-Seventy Skull cap for me and doubled-up latex caps for Stephanie), goggles, and noodles, of course.
 

Me and Stephanie before our swim

Susan followed us in the kayak carrying our noodles. We swam east toward the dam.

Almost half-way

 We used the noodles to take a break with before heading back to the dock.

Break-time

I was surprised that after we got started I wasn't as cold as I had been only a few days before during my first OWS of the season. I'm sure the neoprene cap had something to do with that. It was well worth the expense. The cap was comfortable to wear too. It did reduce my hearing to also nothing though. That's something to keep in mind on a lake where powerboats operate. I never heard the drone of any engines as the boats powered by us.  Stephanie said she wasn't cold either after we started swimming.

We swam about 1.5-miles.  Next time we'll go for 2-miles.  Kudos to Stephanie. She has really gotten faster since last year.

Thanks for reading.

First OWS of 2014 in Lake Spivey

Today was my first Open Water Swim of 2014 as I start my training for the Swim Across America on May 4th.  The water temperature is about 10-degrees warmer than it was less than two weeks ago.  I measured 65.5 degrees in the cove where I started my swim.  I think that was a warm spot.

I realized how cold the water was after I jumped off of the dock.  It was so cold that I thought I was Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie Titanic.  The part of the movie when he and Kate Winslet are clinging to a door in the north Atlantic.  I was clinging to my wife's kayak for dear life.  As the water leaked into my wetsuit from every possible crack and crevice I had second thoughts about continuing.   After about two minutes I regained my composure and headed out.  

I set my sights on something easily attainable for my first swim of the year.

I swam a total of one mile - one half of a mile out and one half of a mile back.  I never did get warm but the water did get tolerable and my hands and feet didn't get numb.

Thanks for reading.

Swim Across America OWS - May 4th

Undaunted by my lack of training, the 10-lbs of ugly fat I've gained since November, the nasty winter weather, and my poor technique, I have registered for my first event for 2014.  It is the Swim Across America (SAA) Open Water Swim (OWS) charity event scheduled for Sunday, May 4th 2014 at Lake Spivey.  Now, with something to shoot for, it's game on.

I've got just over 5 weeks to get ready.  Fortunately, under this layer of fat lies a lean mean swimming machine which, covered with warm buoyant neoprene from neck to ankles on the day of the event should do just fine.

Before the 2013 Ironman Florida swim

This will be my first ever swim-only activity.  Although I believe it is timed I won't be looking to lead the pack.  Since the rest of the field are likely FOP (front of the pack) swimmers I think I'll resolve myself to just finish.  I will be swimming the 5K (3.1-mile) distance.  The longest distance is twice that at 10K (6.2-miles).  Swimmers participating in the 10K swim have to be evaluated prior to starting.  They have to have demonstrated an ability to swim 10K without drowning.  I'm not sure that I could do that.  5K will be the longest I will have swam thus far.  To get ready I've started running again and riding my bike too.  I'll hit the open water next week when the water temperature gets above 55-degrees.

The 5K course will start at the North Shore neighborhood marina, go east toward the dam on Blackhall Road and back.

This will also be my first charity fundraiser event.  Most runs and rides benefit some charity but only the MS150 for Multiple Sclerosis and Tour de Cure for Diabetes comes to mind as events where each participant is required to raise donations beyond the registration fee.  In this case I will be swimming with the Team Lake Spivey.  Our team captain is Olympic gold medalist and Lake Spivey resident Steve Lundquist.  The team is still forming so if you'd like to participate please go to the Swim Across America website, sign-up and choose your team.  Participants may also swim as individuals and not part of a team.

If you would like to donate toward my personal goal of raising $1,000 to help fight childhood cancer please follow this link to my Swim Across America personal page.  You can also donate to the team from my page.

I must say that I'm looking forward to this event.  It's rare that the southside of Atlanta is able to draw such a prestigious event.  Much of the reason for the event being at Lake Spivey has to do with Swim Across America's affiliation with the small community of former Olympic swimmers and Steve Lundquist's connection with the lake.

Sheri Hart, Amy Tillitson, and Steve Lundquist discussing the Swim Across America event

One of the things that has encouraged me to participate in the SAA event is that it benefits Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.  Donations go toward childhood cancer research.  Anything that can improve the likelihood for a positive outcome in children with cancer is great.  If that can have some implementation in the fight against adult cancer is icing on the cake.  As the child of both parents who died as a result of cancer I can appreciate the fact that their research could help me in the distant unforeseen future.   It's nice to still be in the game.

Thanks for reading and thank you for your donations.
  

Catching up!

The weather around Atlanta has been horrendous this winter.  Two ice storms and colder than normal conditions overall have kept me off of my bike and inside the house since Ironman Florida in November.

Max during the first snow storm "It's not cold"

Max again at home in the snow

The second ice/snowstorm brought with it a power outage that lasted about 10 hours.

Georgia Power Outage Map from February 12th at 10am EST.

To pass the time between November and Mid-February I've been catching up on my household chores.   My full training schedule last year preempted a lot of things that I should have been doing.  I've been painting the house, replacing the rubber ends on about a dozen door-stops that my brother-in-law's dog ate two years ago, replacing the smoke detectors just because they were old, and fixing up the yard including having thirty-five trees removed.  The list goes on and on.  Fortunately we removed the trees before the ice storms hit us when one of them would have likely fallen on the house.   The plan is to be all done by spring so Susan and I can have a fun filled summer.

Gray is the new...something

Tree removal is like ballet or Cirque du Soleil - with chairsaws

It has been three and a half months since I finished Ironman Florida.  During that time I haven’t done any exercise.  I'm not kidding.  That’s none, nada, zilch!  I needed to recharge my brain after my battle with the hives, which is still ongoing but manageable, a bit of an upset with my local cycling club where we lost and then regained our successful race team, and the burden of a full year of training and racing in 2013.

Now, almost 12 pounds heavier, I’m back on the wagon.  I’m eating better and exercising.  My head is clearer, my chores are done, well most of them, and I’m ready to select some races for 2014.  I’ve already discussed with Susan that I plan to race in Chattanooga in 2016.  I know 2016 that’s a long way off but I want to be in the next age-group to be competitive.  I still want to go to Kona.

I found out that after my first run in 14 weeks that my Nike shoes, which I have only raced in, give me a blister on my right foot.  They have never felt as comfortable as my Asics Cumulus running shoes but the Asics' are about 2-oz heavier per shoe.  So, while traveling for work to Oklahoma City, OK for a week I decided to bring only two pairs of shoes, a pair of dress shoes and my ill-fitting Nikes.

I ran for an hour and as I did I could feel the blister forming on my arch.  After my run I thought I'd try something that I'm pretty sure I'd read about somewhere.  I bought a tube of Aquaphor (it looks and feels just like Vaseline) and a pair of cheap knee high stockings.  The bootie type stockings had a thick seam that I'm sure would be uncomfortable.  I put a healthy glob of Aquaphor on my arch and covered it with the stocking and then my sock.

I've run twice wearing this preventive measure and the blister hasn't gotten any worse.

The stocking is just barely above my sock

Just my sock and stocking

The blister

Aquaphor and $0.33 pair of stockings from Walmart

Since I'm travelling and I don't want to buy another pair of running shoes when I have 3 more pairs at home I think that this is a good short term solution.  It will allow me to continue running and burning fat. I've got 12 lbs to lose.

On the bike club side of the house my tenure as club secretary was over as of mid-January after 2 years.  That has freed me up to do other things.  It would appear that I haven't been writing but nothing could be further from the truth.  In March of last year I took on the Communications Committee responsibilities for the Lake Spivey Civic Association.  After 11 months I was finally able to resurrect the association's newsletter - The Anchor.  I filled it with 12 pages of articles of interest to me and hopefully some of my neighbors.  The plan is to produce a new issue each quarter.

Please read it and let me know what you think!  Here's a link.

I had to also include this picture of Max taken in December with two balls in his mouth.  His nose is pushed up so far that he can hardly breathe and snorts like a pig as he waits for a third ball to be thrown across the yard.

Max

Thanks for reading.